December 19, 2024
Money in motion: Enabling the evolving finance sector with wealthtech | EY #IndiaFinance

Money in motion: Enabling the evolving finance sector with wealthtech | EY #IndiaFinance

CashNews.co

The competitive nature of wealthtech start-ups

India’s wealthtech sector includes startups and traditional financial firms. Investment in wealth management technology peaked in 2021, driven by the pandemic’s push towards digital finance, and regained momentum in 2023 after a brief decline. The sector is witnessing mergers and partnerships, enabling traditional firms to adopt new tech and wealthtechs to expand their reach.

Evolving regulatory landscape

SEBI regulates India’s wealthtech sector, setting standards for investment advisors and robo-advisors. Regulatory sandboxes allow for product testing, but strict oversight can raise costs and entry barriers. Future regulations aim to encourage innovation while protecting consumers, involving clear guidelines, simplified KYC, and support for ethical investing, fostering a balanced wealthtech ecosystem.

Shaping tomorrow: The future of wealth management in India

Emerging trends are reshaping the wealth management landscape, presenting challenges that wealth managers must navigate to deliver value to clients, stakeholders and society. These trends include a greater emphasis on investor needs, a shift from a distribution-centric model to one focused on advisory services, the rise of ‘phygital’ or hybrid advisory models, outreach to previously underserved demographics, efforts to improve financial literacy and inclusion, the introduction of innovative investment products, and partnerships between agile wealthtech startups and established financial institutions. To maintain a competitive edge, wealth managers need to tailor their services to individual client needs, strengthen client relationships, provide scalable advice, develop synergistic investment opportunities, and ensure smooth client experiences. Additionally, they should enable relationship managers to excel, foster organic growth, streamline operations, implement robust technology and data infrastructures, and enhance risk management processes.